The History of English Language

By: Osama Bin Amer

9-C
The Development of English Language
The history of the English language really started with the arrival of
three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during the 5th century
AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the
North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany. At
that time the inhabitants of
Britain spoke a Celtic language.
But most of the Celtic speakers
were pushed west and north by
the invaders - mainly into what
is now Wales, Scotland and
Ireland. The Angles came from
England and their language was
called Englisc - from which the
words England and English are
derived.

The Old English (450 AD – 1100 AD)

The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which in
Britain developed into what we now call Old English. Old English
did not sound or look like English today. Native English speakers
now would have great difficulty understanding Old English.
Nevertheless, about half of the most
commonly used words in Modern
English have Old English roots. The
words be, strong and water, for example,
derive from Old English. Old English
was spoken until around 1100.
Part of Beowulf, a poem written in
Old English.
Middle English (1150 – 1500)
In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy (part of
modern France), invaded and conquered England. The new
conquerors (called the Normans) brought with them a kind of
French, which became the language of the Royal Court, and the
ruling and business classes. For a
period there was a kind of linguistic
class division, where the lower classes
spoke English and the upper classes
spoke French. In the 14th century
English became dominant in Britain
again, but with many French words
added. This language is called Middle
English. It was the language of the
great poet Chaucer (c1340-1400), but
it would still be difficult for native
English speakers to understand today.
An example of Middle English by Chaucer.

Modern English
Early Modern English (1500-1800)

Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden and distinct change in

pronunciation (the Great Vowel Shift) started, with vowels being
pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16th century the British
had contact with many people’s from around the world. This, and
the Renaissance of Classical learning, meant that many new words
and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also
meant that there was now a common language in print. Books
became cheaper and more people learned to read. Printing also
brought standardization to English. Spelling and grammar became
fixed, and the dialect of London, where most publishing houses
were, became the standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary was
published.

Late Modern English (1800-Present)

The main difference between Early

Modern English and Late Modern
English is vocabulary. Late Modern
English has many more words, arising
from two principal factors: firstly, the
Industrial Revolution and technology
created a need for new words;
secondly, the British Empire at its
height covered one quarter of the
earth's surface, and the English
language adopted foreign words from Hamlet's famous "To be, or not to be" lines,
many countries. written in Early Modern English by
Shakespeare.

Varieties of English
From around 1600, the English colonization of North America
resulted in the creation of a distinct American variety of English.
Some English pronunciations and words "froze" when they reached
America. In some ways, American English is more like the English
of Shakespeare than modern British English is. Some expressions
that the British call "Americanisms" are in fact original British
expressions that were preserved in the colonies while lost for a time
in Britain (for example trash for rubbish, loan as a verb instead of
lend, and fall for autumn; another example, frame-up, was re-
imported into Britain through Hollywood gangster movies). Spanish
also had an influence on American English (and subsequently
British English), with words like canyon, ranch, stampede and
vigilante being examples of Spanish words that entered English
through the settlement of the American West. French words
(through Louisiana) and West African words (through the slave
trade) also influenced American English (and so, to an extent,
British English).

Today, American English is particularly influential, due to the

USA's dominance of cinema, television, popular music, trade and
technology (including the Internet). But there are many other
varieties of English around the world, including for example
Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South
African English, Indian English and Caribbean English.